BATON ROUGE -- A House committee will debate the privatization of Avoyelles Correctional Center Tuesday morning.

Louisiana Department of Public Safety and CorrectionAvoyelles Correctional Center

Gov. Bobby Jindal's budget calls for closing the J. Levy Dabadie Correction Center in Pineville and moving its inmates to the Avoyelles Correctional Center in Cottonport. The combined facility would then be sold to a private firm for $35 million.

House Bill 850, by Rep. Henry Burns, R-Haughton, would authorize the sale of the center and allow the state to enter into a 20-year contract with a private company that would run the new facility.

The money from the sale is slated to go to the state's "rainy day fund" and administration officials have said a privately-run facility would cost the state less in salaries and benefits.